Traffic related congestion in computer networks can prevent or hinder messages from reaching appropriate destinations. For example, authentication messages may be used to authenticate subscribers for service access. If subscribers are not authenticated because a network or a node therein is too congested to route or process authentication messages in a timely manner, subscribers may be denied service access. To reduce problems associated with traffic related congestion, many networks attempt to discard less important messages, while still allowing some important messages during a congestion event (e.g., an event or period of time when congestion is detected, such as when a network node is overloaded). However, various factors may need to be considered when determining which messages to discard and which messages to allow when congestion is detected.